Dementia: Relaxing Music at Mealtime in Nursing Homes Agitated Patients

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The research problem discussed in this document concerns agitation in people with relentless cognitive harm as a considerable problem affecting care and general quality of life. On an earlier study, Goddaer and Abraham (1994) sought to find a solution to this problem. They took a quasi-experimental study proposing that relaxing music (played at meal time) would wield a calming effect and reduce roused behaviors among nursing home populace with dementia. Regardless of the mounting support in the literature, the efficacy of music as an intervention measure to lessen agitation is still questioned. To reinforce the evidence in support of this modality, and supplementing work carried out by Goddaer and Abraham, the present study scrutinizes the relationship between agitation and soothing music in an assembly of aged residents in a nursing home in Canada with considerable dementia (Hicks-Moore, 2005).

Literature Review

Journals and other reports have been employed by the author in carrying out the study. For example, the author has employed a journal article by Cohen-Mansfield, Marx, & Rosenthal, (1989). A description of agitation in a nursing home, Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, 44(3), 77-84 to give an insight on agitation faced by the elderly in the nursing home. This assists the reader of the article because it elucidates further and offers the author the report reliability as it presents the high quality of study conducted.

The author has employed many other journals and reports from plausible sources, to support his arguments that relaxing music (played at meal time) would wield a calming effect and reduce roused behaviors among nursing home populace with dementia. The use of reliable sources in referencing and citation implies that the writer of the article is basing his case on facts rather than rumors, heresy, and speculation. His work is therefore thoroughly researched, carries some depth and must not be ignored.

Research Questions and Hypothesis

Does relaxing music played during the evening meal reduce the cumulative incidence of agitated behaviors displayed during evening meal time in a group of nursing home residents with significant dementia?

Research Design

The study employed a quasi-experimental design. A number of inhabitants living on the Specialized Care Unit (SCU) were monitored and the collective frequency of their disquieted behaviors was computed without and with soothing music during the evening mealtime. There was no music played in the first and third week. In both the second and fourth weeks music was played (Hicks-Moore, 2005).

Sampling

The study observed an expediency sample of 33 contributors. These participants lived in the Specialized Care Unit and had been diagnosed with stern cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, or irreversible dementia. Each participant was required to avail a written and signed consent.

Variables

The author focuses on the variables of relaxing music and agitation. He focuses on the music made to uphold relaxation by being calm and harmonious without abrupt changes in rhythm, yet with adequate discrepancy to shun boredom.

In agitation he looks into the inappropriate vocal, motor, or verbal activities that cannot be linked directly to patent needs or confusion

Data Collection

The author has used secondary as well as primary data collection methods. He has consulted several journal articles as well as reports. The author cites an earlier study by Goddaer and Abraham (1994) that sought to find a solution to this problem. Data were gathered for this study as Pre-Intervention and Intervention methods

Validity and Reliability of Data Collection Instruments

The study appears to have used valid as well as reliable instruments in data collection. The many journal article consulted as well as the reports used symbolize reliable resources in carrying out research. Both the pre-intervention and intervention are good data collection methods that can be relied upon.

Validity and Validity Threats

The sample size may hold given features that may intermingle with the (independent) variable thereby restraining generalisability. For example, the outcomes of this study implying that soothing music played at some point in the evening mealtime may lessen the general level of anxiety among the aged (nursing home) residents who suffers cognitive impairment may not be effective for a different sample. The situational details (e.g. timing, location, body conditions etc) of this study may greatly limit generalizability. Test carried out in the future may as well limit the generalization of the findings (Hicks-Moore, 2005).

Data Analysis

In the case of pre-intervention method, measurements for the noise levels were taken at the time of the evening meal on three random instances through the use of a decibel meter. This was directed at establishing the standard noise level. 63.1dB (A) was found to be the standard noise level at the dining room. Music played at a 65 to 69 dB (A), volume level with adjustments being made at the intervention method. Additionally, all through the 4-week period of observation (unstructured) notes were made to record the general observations of the researchers. This ensured that proper analysis took place.

Legal Issues and Research Ethics

The study appears to have taken legal issues into consideration. Research ethics was also observed, for example, in the case where staff personnel at the institution were given assurance that their work would not be assessed and the need to continue offering mealtime care as usual was emphasized.

Limitations and External Validity

Suppositions on cause-effect associations based on a scientific study like the one at hand are known to hold external validity particularly if they are generalized from idiosyncratic and exceptional settings, practices and participants to other populace and the prevailing conditions. The inferences made in this study may carry high external validity degree. The sample size employed in this study may not necessarily represent the interest of people in other geographic territories devoid of these features.

Findings/ Conclusions

Music has a well-documented ability to appease and substitute anxiety and agitation with quietness and repose in present-day society. The outcomes of this study imply that soothing music played at some point in the evening mealtime may lessen the general level of anxiety among the aged (nursing home) residents who suffers cognitive impairment. The outcomes of the existing research are in support of other results in recent studies concerning the nursing home occupants with dementia. Well articulated in the text, the principal challenges conflicting nursing personnel caring for people with dementia is connected to physically insistent demeanors. Habitually, physically belligerent behaviors are linked to the direct and fundamental care provided by workers, such as bathing and feeding. In the study, aggressive demeanors (physically) taking place in the eating place were observed to be very disrupting to employees and other residents.

Implications

The author addresses the implications of the outcomes comprehensively.

Recommendations

Music, as supported by the findings of this study, is one non-invasive intervention that should be implemented as a means of minimizing dysfunctional behaviors among individuals with dementia. As evident in the findings of this study, music should most definitely be incorporated into mealtimes, and may also prove to be an effective therapeutic intervention throughout the day. Incorporating music into resident care plans may indeed be a valuable strategy in reducing the overall incidence of agitated behavior and decreasing the need for restraints. The report is well researched with wide-ranging and exhaustive insights.

Reference

Hicks-Moore, S.L. Relaxing Music at Mealtime in Nursing Homes: Effects on Agitated Patients with Dementia. Journal of Gerontological Nursing December 2005 – Volume 31 · Issue 12: 26-32

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